Page Files

[zs450]

I've got three hard drives in my computer. I have a page file set up on the two that do not have the OS installed on them. Is there any benefit to creating a partition for the page file or should they be alright in the current configuration? I put a 1GB page file on each drive (they're both 250GB) but I decided not to create a partition because I saw no need to do so. Everything that I've been reading recently indicates that partitions are the way to go. Any insight would be apprecaited.

 

[rvnguy]

XP actually needs only one swap file location.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[zs450]

Thanks for the reply. I just installed the third drive and created a new page file just to see if there would be a perfomance upgrade since the new page file is on a faster disc. I'm going to move the old drive into a media center when I get home next week so i'll be back to one again.

In your opinion,should I partition off the space that I use for the page file? I don't see any advantage to that beyond defragging, but, I defrag on a regular basis anyway.

Thanks again!

 

[rvnguy]

Typically, moving you swap area to another drive provides tha best performance and if the is also a faster drive then that is also better. For most uses though, the increase is minimal.

As a matter of retentiveness, I dedicate a small partition for the OS & apps, the remainder for the data. I place the swap file in a partition of its' own based upon past experience that if this becomes corrupted, it is eaiser to just reformat this small area than to find the cause.

This covers it fairly well:

Where is the page file?

The page file in XP is a hidden file called pagefile.sys. It is regenerated at each boot — there is no need to include it in a backup. To see it you need to have Folder Options | View set to ‘Show Hidden and System files’, and not to ‘Hide Protected mode System files’.

In earlier NT systems it was usual to have such a file on each hard drive partition, if there were more than one partition, with the idea of having the file as near as possible to the ‘action’ on the disk. In XP the optimisation implied by this has been found not to justify the overhead, and normally there is only a single page file in the first instance.

Where do I set the placing and size of the page file?

At Control Panel | System | Advanced, click Settings in the “Performance” Section. On the Advanced page of the result, the current total physical size of all page files that may be in existence is shown. Click Change to make settings for the Virtual memory operation. Here you can select any drive partition and set either ‘Custom’; ‘System Managed’ or ‘No page file’; then always click Set before going on to the next partition.

Should the file be left on Drive C:?

The slowest aspect of getting at a file on a hard disk is in head movement (‘seeking’). If you have only one physical drive then the file is best left where the heads are most likely to be, so where most activity is going on — on drive C:. If you have a second physical drive, it is in principle better to put the file there, because it is then less likely that the heads will have moved away from it. If, though, you have a modern large size of RAM, actual traffic on the file is likely to be low, even if programs are rolled out to it, inactive, so the point becomes an academic one. If you do put the file elsewhere, you should leave a small amount on C: — an initial size of 2MB with a Maximum of 50 is suitable — so it can be used in emergency. Without this, the system is inclined to ignore the settings and either have no page file at all (and complain) or make a very large one indeed on C:

In relocating the page file, it must be on a ‘basic’ drive. Windows XP appears not to be willing to accept page files on ‘dynamic’ drives.

NOTE: If you are debugging crashes and wish the error reporting to make a kernel or full dump, then you will need an initial size set on C: of either 200 MB (for a kernel dump) or the size of RAM (for a full memory dump). If you are not doing so, it is best to make the setting to no more than a ‘Small Dump’, at Control Panel | System | Advanced, click Settings in the ‘Startup and Recovery’ section, and select in the ‘Write Debug information to’ panel

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[zs450]

Thanks! This is good information.

 

[directlyconnected]

What aps are you running that require that large of a pagefile? I normally upgrade RAM

 

[zs450]

I really don't need a page file that large. I made it huge and figured that if I needed the space, I could always adjust. I play around with configurations a lot just to see what works best for me. I've got 1.5GB of PC3200 RAM so I do need to upgrade, but, I haven't been gaming much on my PC these days so I'm not rushing out to get it just yet.

 

[directlyconnected]

Understood. I've tried messing with virtual memory, and no real change. I have 1 gig of pc 3200, and when I upgrade, I'm going all the way---dual core processor (heard that one is coming out with both cores hyperthreaded!), pc 10billion RAM (ha ha), and a mobo with 4 or more SATA ports so I can RAID 0 with 4 SATA 100gig, and a 400 gig backup. May need a larger psu, huh? Oh---and PCIe graphics card.